Letters to the Editor Oct. 13, 2012

Thank you for printing supervisor candidate Roger Gitlin’s enlightening revelation that leeches, moochers, victims and entitlement-seekers form the voting base of the Democratic Party.

Wow; who knew? All those leeches who own stock in oil companies receiving government subsidies are Democrats? And every moocher who ranches or farms and receives government cash and/or grazing/water subsidies is a Democrat as well?

What about the victims who have government-insured mortgages and/or savings accounts; Demos too, you say?

And let’s not forget the entitlement-seekers on Medicare; they’re all Democrats also?

Silly me! I would have guessed that at least half of the leeches, moochers, victims, and entitlement-seelers are hypocritical Republicans.

Rob Cozens, Klamath

Gitlin's extremism willprevent common ground

While trying to learn more about county supervisor candidate Roger Gitlin, I find he is a person who founded a Minutemen Militia in his community of Santa Clarita and demanded the City Council take a position on immigration. To my knowledge, the Minutemen Militia is an extremist organization. In my experience, extreme organizations and positions do not lead us to finding middle ground — and workable solutions.

Governance is serious business. The ability to focus on vital issues relevant to our community, with the skills to build consensus, is a key qualification.

Supervisor Leslie McNamer is a citizen who believes we can find ways to move forward and support one another regardless of our different global political views. As a supervisor, she works to make a stronger community for our seniors, children and families. She is fair and she recognizes we are a community of individuals and families supporting one another and moving forward by working together and forming partnerships.

Vote Leslie McNamer, the choice to insure unity.

Jacklyn Engelsma, Crescent City

McNamer's shown me
her word is her bond

I had the honor of knowing Leslie McNamer for close to 40 years. I know her family, I’ve shared children and grandchildren problems with her, I’ve had the privilege of doing business with her while she made her living in the real estate industry and have done many transactions with her.

Her word is her bond and if she does have a fault, it’s usually putting everything else ahead of her own needs.

Honesty, integrity and hard-working. This is the Leslie McNamer that I know. That’s enough to get her my vote. If you don’t know someone after almost 40 years then chances are you never will.

Greg Forsht, Crescent City

OK'd logging plan will harm our water quality

Responsible forest management took a big step backward on Oct. 4 when the North Coast Water Quality Control Board, which is supposed to protect the public interest in water, approved an ownership-wide logging plan for Green Diamond Resources (formerly Simpson) which top independent North Coast scientists say will keep our streams in a degraded condition choked with sediment.

The governor-appointed board voted unanimously to approve GDR-Simpson’s logging plan, which contains loopholes big enough to accommodate thousands of clearcuts. Too many clearcuts on the steep, unstable slopes of the Coast Range and Klamath Mountains lead to accelerated landsliding and nuisance sediment delivery to our streams.

The Water Board’s failure to set a limit on watershed disturbance means that many of the watersheds in which GDR controls most of the land will remain in a degraded condition. Fisheries, recreation and water supplies will not be protected or restored.

The Water Board’s action abandons limits on how much logging can occur in a watershed during a single decade. The board had previously applied those logging limits on Bear River and Elk River. Those limitations should have been applied to other North Coast rivers and streams, which are equally sensitive to logging and which are also in a degraded condition.

North Coast geologist Bill Trush wrote to the Board and explained that “[A]verage annual harvest rates greater than about 1.5% (representing a 67-year rotation cycle) should be avoided in North Coast watersheds, with the caveat that watershed-specific adjustments are possible based on more detailed analyses.”

But the Water Board ignored this recommendation, along with those of Leslie Reid and other independent scientists, thereby assuring that watersheds like the Mad River where GDR/Simpson controls lots of land will remain in a degraded condition for the foreseeable future. Why is the Water Board abandoning the best science and enabling a big corporation to trash our watersheds?

Citizens who don’t appreciate having to live with degraded watersheds choked in sediment can let the North Coast Water Board know how you feel about their bowing to GDR/Simpson.

Send e-mail to
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or write to David Noren, Chairman, North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, 5550 Skylane Blvd. Ste. A, Santa Rosa, CA 95403.

Felice Pace, Klamath

Blame for nat'l debt, economy goes to GOP

While listening to our national election news coverage, I became incensed when I heard Republicans talking about the huge budget deficit that President Obama has “single-handedly” caused. Truth is Congress has gone home for vacation without passing the budget because they did not agree with President Obama’s proposed budget.

The government budget deficit when President George Bush took office was $4 trillion and it was $11.7 trillion when he left office in 2008 with the Republicans in charge of Congress. In September of 2007, when the 2008 budget was passed by Republicans, it had a $1.3 trillion deficit. Thus, President Obama inherited a $13 trillion national debt upon taking office.

He could not change the budget due to filibustering and no votes to make the needed changes. I don’t notice filibustering in the Constitution, and although Republicans’ ratio of use is much higher than Democratic use, it seems ludicrous to me that this is allowed by either party. So much for one man being able to control or resolve a problem caused by many.

Recently, Warren Buffet got 14 of the wealthiest billionaires together and they agreed not to pay taxes. According to the television program “60 Minutes,” 25 percent of billionaires did not pay taxes last year. General Electric only paid 3 percent in taxes. What is wrong with this picture?

I hear Republicans say that they are “job creators,” but when are they going to create jobs? Republicans tell so many lies and I am bothered by Romney’s running mate who says that they will have the national budget balanced by 2040. Shouldn’t we have a balanced budget before then? Congress could come back from vacation and take care of the matter now. Wealthy Republicans aren’t paying taxes now, so how can they balance the budget when they get in office with a $13 trillion deficit?

When the Republicans controlled the Senate, they called for a recess rather than balancing the budget. See a pattern here? These stall tactics do nothing but divide our country at a time when we need to be united states! After working for the Department of Defense for 40 years, this is the worst case of class warfare that I have ever seen.

I urge you to consider this when you go to the polls in November and vote for President Obama.

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